Syria holds first Parliamentary elections since fall of Bashar-al Assad

Damascus [Syria], October 5 (ANI): Members of the electoral colleges in Syria on Sunday morning voted for the first Syrian Parliamentary Elections since the country's ruler Bashar al-Assad was overthrown.

State media reported that that voting process, which will mark the formation of the first Syrian People's Assembly since the fall of the defunct regime.

Sana news agency reported that voting was held at designated electoral district centres across most provinces, as set by the Higher Committee for Parliamentary Elections. The 11 members of the Committe were chosen by the president in June.

A later date will be scheduled for voting in Kurdish controlled certain areas of Raqqa and Hasakah provinces (Ma'dan, Ras al-Ayn, and Tal Abyad), while seats in the remaining districts of these provinces, as well as all districts in Sweida province, will remain vacant until conditions allow, the news outlet said.

Syria's new transitional government doesn't control all of the country and authorities say they have postponed the polls for security reasons in parts of the Druze region of Sweida and also the Kurdish areas of eastern Syria which saw deadly fighting between government forces and Druze militias.

Assad was ousted by Ahmed al-Sharaa's forces last December after a 13-year civil war.

After voting concludes, the ballot boxes will be opened publicly in the presence of the media, and the counting of votes will begin. Preliminary results will be announced immediately through national media outlets.

The spokesperson for the Supreme Committee said that once the preliminary results and names are released, any objections from members of the electoral committee regarding voting or counting procedures will be reviewed by appeals committees.

The final results will then be announced during an official press conference held by the Higher Committee for Parliamentary Elections on the following Monday or Tuesday.

Al Jazeera reported that the voting process was being criticised as undemocratic, with a third of the 210 members of the revamped People's Assembly appointed by interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa. The remaining representatives will not be voted on directly by the people, but chosen instead by electoral colleges around the country.

The People's Assembly has 210 seats, of which 140 are voted on by electoral colleges throughout the country, with the number of seats for each district distributed by population. The remaining 70 deputies will be appointed directly by al-Sharaa.

A total of 7,000 electoral college members in 60 districts - chosen from a pool of applicants in each district by committees appointed for the purpose - will vote for the 140 seats.

The elections come amid tensions near Aleppo between the transitional government forces and members of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. The SDF operates in eastern Syria and has been fighting ISIS for ten years. They are made up of Kurds, Arabs, and Christians.

They are supposed to integrate into the Damascus-backed new Syrian army. However, integration has not happened. As such, elections are not being held in SDF areas. Elections are not held in the Turkish-occupied area of Tel Abyad either as per Jerusalem Post.

Meanwhile, Ahmed al-Sharaa became the first Syrian leader in nearly 60 years to address the UN General Assembly. In his address he had called for the complete lifting of sanctions on Syria. al-Sharaa promised to bring to justice everyone responsible for the bloodshed, as well as those who committed atrocities under Assad. (ANI)

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